1. The
Beginning of the Church :: Acts of the Apostles. Community in
Jerusalem — The First Church. Early Church Organization. Life of Christians.
Break with Judaism. The Apostle Paul. The Church and the Greco-Roman World.
People of the Early Church. Basis of Persecution by Rome. Blood of Martyrs.
Struggle of Christianity to Keep its Own Meaning. The New Testament. Sin and
Repentance in the Church. Beginnings of Theology. The Last Great Persecutions.

2. The
Triumph Of Christianity :: Conversion of Constantine. Relations
between Church and State. The Arian Disturbance. Council of Nicaea
— First Ecumenical Council. After Constantine. The Roman Position.
Countermeasures in the EaSt. End of Arianism. New Relation of
Christianity to the World. The Visible Church. Rise of
Monasticism. State Religion — Second Ecumenical Council. St. John
Chrysostom.

3. The Age Of
The Ecumenical Councils :: Development of Church Regional
Structure. The Byzantine Idea of Church and State Constantinople vs. Alexandria
The Christological Controversy — Nestorius and Cyril. Third Ecumenical Council.
The Monophysite Heresy. Council of Chalcedon (Fourth Ecumenical Council).
Reaction to Chalcedon — the Road to Division. Last Dream of Rome. Justinian and
the Church. Two Communities. Symphony. Reconciliation with Rome — Break with the
EaSt. Recurrence of Origenism. Fifth Ecumenical Council. Underlying Gains.
Breakup of the Empire — Rise of Islam. Decay of the Universal Church Last
Efforts: Monothelitism. Sixth Ecumenical Council. Changing Church Structure.
Byzantine Theology. Quality of Life in the New Age. Development of the Liturgy.
Veneration of the Virgin Mary. Reflection of Theology and Asceticism in the
Services.

4. Byzantium ::
Significance of the Byzantine Period. Background of Iconoclasm. Icons in the
Seventh Century. Iconoclastic Movement. Seventh Ecumenical Council. Persecution
by the Iconoclasts. Church and State in the Eighth Century — The Issue of
Monasticism. Victory for the Monastic Principle. Late Byzantine Theocracy — The
Church’s Version. Outward Signs. Inherent Weaknesses. The Conservative Trend.
Official Theology. A Vital Liturgy. New Hellenization. Monastic Theology. Mt.
Athos. The Mystical Root of Theology. Basic Church Unity. Elements of
Misunderstanding with Rome. Deepening Divergence. Loss of Communication. Schism
of 1054. Alienation Completed. Cyril and Methodius. Rise of the Bulgarian
Empire. Bulgarian Orthodoxy. The Serbian Empire. Early Slavic Orthodoxy.